Sword Art Online: This is my story
by mitchelo3
Summary: Sword Art Online. Nobody knew from the start this would be a death game, nobody saw it coming either. Entering Mitchel, another player who couldn't resist SAO and even managed to get a copy. Follow his adventure that sometimes takes him to places never gone before, meeting some interesting friends and enemies along the way. Rated M just in case.
1. Prologue

Sword Art Online, or SAO for short.

The game that uses the Nervegear and the Full-Dive system to it's maximum, it can reproduce any of the 5 human senses, it's almost like your being alive inside a game. SAO is a new type of genre in the game world, VRMMORPG, Virtual Reality Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Game. The people who tested the Beta couldn't believe what they saw when they entered the world of Sword Art Online. SAO had a unique game mechanism, there was no magic in this world, only swords, maces, axes, and all kinds of melee weapons you can use.

The lack of magic was replaced by something called [Sword Skills], these skills allowed the player to power up their attacks with more attack power, an elemental attack or attacks with a status attached to them, like burn and poison. The world of SAO is called Aincrad , it is some kind of flying fortress, and the game can be beaten, by clearing all the 100 floors. The games skills also work a bit different, each skill can reach the maximum level off 1000, which can be considered a lot, since most games have a level cap off level 100.

The most anticipated game off all time. Only 10.000 copies will be sold in the first batch, and I have one, I can't believe I have one! I put the disk in my Nervegear, and read the manual. Since this is the first time I'll be using the Nervegear, I want to make sure I don't screw up something when playing SAO. When I finished reading the manual, I put the Nervegear on my head, it instructed me to touch various parts on my body, to make my avatar as realistic as possible, when I was done with 'calibrating' my body, it showed me the stats, showing me if it was right or not. I've started reading the stats out loud. '..197cm tall...97kg..that seems about right..'. It all seemed correct, so this was it, I lied down on my bed, and I said the magic words that would bring me into the world of SAO. 'Link start!'

The world around me faded, and unknown to me or anyone else who started playing SAO, what seemed to be a dream come true, was soon turning into a nightmare we wouldn't be able to escape from...

The game took me to an avatar creation screen, here I could customize the look off my avatar for SAO, I kept it fairly simple. After a few minutes off customizing, my avatar was ready. Looking closely at it, my avatar was tall, probably taller than most other players, it had long blond hair, and I had it put into a samurai like ponytail, I went with no facial hair, making my avatar look younger. My avatar had bright blue eyes, just like my real self did. Now all I had to do was choose a nickname, Which wasn't easy, I had to come up with something fairly simple, which was easier for people around me to call out to me. I went with just [Mitchelo], it was easy to use, and I just made my real name longer, I could have done something with my last name, but this was good enough.

I pressed the OK button, and everything went white and slowly faded to black. I blinked a few times, I couldn't believe my eyes, surrounding me was the world called Aincrad, I was now officially playing Sword Art Online. I saw various people spawning around me looking around and being just as amazed as I am now. Now it was time to get familiar with the menu system, since this was all new to me. I used my right hand to make a swipe motion downwards, and it opened a menu, the method of opening the menu was new, but the menu itself was sort of familiar, having played a lot off other MMO's and other type of games. I see Inventory/Equipment, Friends/Guild, Messaging/Chat, Maps/Quest and finally there is Settings/Main-menu. Firstly I look at what I have as equipment. I pointed at Inventory/Equipment, it opens another menu, I point at equipment, and then weapons. The only weapon listed in my inventory was an basic sword called [Iron sword]. I pointed at it and the [Iron Sword] appeared in my right hand, I gave it a few swings. The sword feels heavy, but it isn't taking a whole lot of effort to swing this around for a while, a sword like this will probably tire me out in real life. I decided I would check up on my other not so important settings later, now I couldn't contain my excitement to really go out and play SAO.

I ran around town, to see the visual wonder this game truly is, the shopping area is filled with stands that sell various armour, weapons and items like healing potions. I reached one of the gates this town has, and walked past it, leaving the safe zone. Not much further I spotted my first enemies, a pack of wild boars, at level 1. I took my [Iron sword] and got into a combat stance, this felt unnatural, other MMO's were played behind a computer and it only took a few clicks on the mouse and keyboard to attack an enemy. While it felt weird, I could feel the adrenaline rushing trough my body, it was like I was about fight a real boar. The hostile boar spotted me, and was about to charge at me. I awkwardly held my weapon in front of myself, and got ready for the boar to attack. After a few second, the boar ran towards me, and I jumped out off the way. The boar ran past me, and I took this as an opportunity to attack. I ran behind the boar and stabbed it with my sword, as I did, I noticed the HP bar of the boar going down. The boar turned around, and it wasn't pleased with me, and ran at me again, this time a bit faster. I dodged him again, and slashed at him. This was the last attack I needed to do, as I cut through him and saw the boar explode in blue bits. A messages appeared in front of me, containing the item I got from the boar I just killed, and some Col. Col is the in-game currency and is similar to what would be gold in other MMO games. So far I now have 1 [Boar skin] and 16 Col, I just need to to kill a few more enemies, and I should reach level 2 soon.

A few hours later, the sun was setting in Aincrad, which would mean in the real world it would also be getting dark, I opened my menu, and indeed, it was now 18:12, which would also mean, it was almost time for dinner. It would mean I have to log out, so I opened up my Settings/Main-menu, and I looked in the tabs. That's weird, there is no log-out button, maybe it's somewhere else? I opened up other menu's, but I couldn't find it. Maybe it was a bug or some sort of glitch? Well until that is fixed I can't log-out. Then something strange happened, I was being teleported to the town center, along with a bunch off other players. Everyone looked around, confused, freaked out, some of them calm. Maybe this is some introduction? It was until a dark red figure appeared in the middle of the town center. ''Attention players, welcome to my world.''. The whole crowd was quiet as it waited for the figure to speak. ''My name is Kayaba Akihiko, as of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world.''. Some people started whispering, questioning if it was really him, others being impressed that he made this world. The figure continued speaking. ''I figured some people noticed this already, that the log-out button is missing in the main-menu.''. So the GM's did notice, is this why he teleported all of us here? The next words he said, would give everyone nightmares, for the rest of our lives. ''This is however not a bug or glitch in the game, I repeat, this is not a defect in the game, this is a new feature in Sword Art Online.''. I said my thoughts out loud. ''A-A new feature in Sword Art Online...?''. The figure continued talking. ''You cannot log-out of SAO yourself, and no one from the outside can remove or disable the Nervegear.''. ''Should this be attempted however, the Nervegear will transmit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain, thus ending your life.''. People around me started yelling at the figure, saying that what he just told us was a bunch of lies, or at least doubted him. The dark figure continued talking. ''Unfortunately, several players, friends and family have ignored this warning, and attempted to remove the Nervegear, as a result, 213 players are gone, from Aincrad, and the real world.''. He showed several pages from news sites, reporting that indeed, 213 players have died, in real life. ''I hope you all will relax and clear the game.''. How could he say that...in such a calm tone, 213 players have died! It was then he gave another warning.

''But I want you to remember this clearly, there is no longer a method in the game to revive other players in the game, if your HP drops to zero, not only will your avatar be lost forever, but you won't wake up in the real world either.''. I widen my eyes and my breath hitched, and various scenarios of me dying in this game flashed into my mind. ''There is only one way to escape from this game, that is to clear this game.''. Everyone was standing still, waiting for what he had to say next. ''Currently your in the lowest floor in Aincrad, floor 1, if you manage to get trough the dungeon and defeat the floor boss, the floor above will open itself up to you all.''. ''Reach floor 100, and defeat it's floor boss, and you will clear the game.''. I heard some players yelling that he just made this up, other questioned if it's really possible to reach floor 100, it was yet then, he had another present for all off us. '' I've added a special present into your inventory, please see for yourself.''. Everyone, including me, started going through our inventory. ''[Mirror]? What kind of item is that?'' I said out loud. I used the item, and it summoned right into my hand. It was then, bright lights started to cover other players, and soon I found myself covered in the same light. When the light was going away, everyone gasped. I looked into the [Mirror] and...I saw myself, not as my avatar, but as the 'real' me. I still had my blond hair, only now it was some sort of an medium-long hair style and it was just hanging down free almost in front of my eyes, I also still had my blue eyes, but my face was now exactly the same as in the real world. There were even female characters that turned into male characters. While everyone was surprised at how they now look like their real life counterparts, I started thinking, how could this item know our real life faces? Then it hit me, the scan you needed to do before starting SAO, but to be this accurate, it's insane. Then the figure continued speaking, thinking it has paused long enough for everyone to get all this information in. ''You are all thinking probably, why? Why would Kayaba Akihiko, developer of Sword Art Online and the Nervegear, do all this? My goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason... to create this world and intervene in it.'' Some people started to have panicked looks on their faces, others showed confusing or anger. The figure spoke it's final words. ''This ends the official tutorial for the Sword Art Online launch, good luck, players.'' The figure now started to disappear, slowly but sure.

Quiet...it was dead quiet, everyone still shocked after everything they heard, nobody moved a muscle. This Kayaba Akihiko, something about his tone, this was real, he wasn't lying about all this. We are now trapped, in a game of death, with the goal far away from our reach, the only is to clear all the 100 floors this game has, if I die in this game it wont be only in the game, I will die in the real world as well. This game of death, we have to survive... I have to survive. It was at that moment, one girl started to panic, it triggered an explosion of reactions, several players started cursing, other trying desperately to escape to where ever they could hide. It was then the barrier that kept us inside the town center disappeared, I took my chance to escape the masses of people surrounding me. My mind was blank, I kept running forward, not even looking where I'm going. I even nearly tripped a few times, but I couldn't care less. I and another thousands of players, were trapped inside this sick game of death. Will I die in this game...Will I be strong enough? These thoughts spooked inside my mind, until something snapped inside me. Fuck that...I will not die inside this death game, I'll become stronger, and clear it with the other players! I ran outside the city, and once I was out far enough, a boar spawned on my path, I took out my weapon and ran straight at it. I let the Sword skill assist take over, as I slashed at it in an extreme rate. The boar exploded in blue bits in a matter of moments, and I continued forward, screaming at the red sky, that was trapping us in this for who knows how long.

I'm Mitchel, and this is my story.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, if I did I would probably be rich and buy myself a lot of cookies

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It's been weeks now since the launch of Sword Art Online. About 2000 players have already died in the these few weeks, with only 10000 players in this world in the first place, the population was decreased at a high and fast rate. I started loosing track of days, and everyday seemed the same to me. My mental condition was also taking a beating in the past time in here. Sometimes I started having panic attacks, everyday in this world could be my last one. Despite all this, I continued on, kept farming exp to try and level up. The only problem was the other people also used this spot to farm monsters, plus that the wolves didn't exactly had a fast or high spawning rate, it took me an vast amount of time to get as little as level 4. I did however had some luck as well. When I ran away from the first time, I found myself at an small village, where I could do a few quests before the main horde of other people arrived. This has earned me a decent amount of Col to spend, and I found something to keep myself distracted in the mean time. I always had something in MMO's that made me want to make my own equipment. And thus I have started the [Metal refining] skill and the [Slash weapon forging]. At first everything I made broke down, it was a hard process to learn. Eventually after a bunch of crafting materials and time, I made an [Iron Sword] with success. Although it was weaker then the sword I currently have equipped, a sense of accomplishment hit me. After that I started to create even more swords, and more were created with success. Since the swords didn't have a use to me, I sold them to a local NPC (non-playable character). I earned myself a bit of Col while trying to raise my skill levels, this could give me an advantage over other players, since I could create my own weapons now. looked up in the sky and saw it becoming more dark.

''I guess it's time to head back to the inn...'' I told myself in a low voice.

Since I didn't make any friends inside this game, mostly of the time I'm alone outside. Sometimes at the inn there are people who I share a drink with sometimes. But in the end, when I go farming for exp or resources I always go alone.

The inn I usually go to wasn't operated by an NPC, but by a gentle and nice female fellow player, somewhere in the mid 20's I would think is her age.

''Hello there again Mitchelo, how was your hunting day?''. The nice woman asked me. ''It was okay for the most part, thanks for asking.''. This female inn keeper would always ask everyone about their day, sometimes people ignored her, but I find it rather comfortable to have somebody to talk to. Then again, I was always alone outside town. I sat down and the inn keeper walked towards me. ''Would you like something to drink?''. She asked nicely. ''Yea, that sounds good.''. I already took out some coins to pay for my drink. ''It's going to be your usual drink as always, right?''. And she guessed right about that, I nod my head in to confirm what she just guessed. Even though this is a game, the taste it can reproduce is amazing, so when I found out there was a drink with the taste off lemon ice tea, I was hooked right away. ''There you go.''. The inn keeper puts down the glass on the wooden bar. I in exchange put a few Col on the wooden bar. A few other players came into the bar, when I looked outside it was completely dark already. I laid down some more Col on the wooden bar. The inn keeper took the Col. ''Your usual room I take it?''. I nodded my head. ''I'm starting to think you already know what my thoughts are. By the way, was there any info on when the other players would take on the 1st floor boss?'' She shook her head slowly. ''It's been very busy with higher level players buying equipment here, but I didn't hear anything about a plan to take on the floor boss, sorry.''. I finished my drink and stood up. ''That's okay, you want to get out of this sick death game as the rest of us players.'' I said my goodbyes to the nice inn keeper and made my way upstairs into, what can almost be called 'my room'. I took of my sword and armour, the first few nights in SAO I either didn't sleep or I could sleep for just a few hours. I laid down on the now familiar bed, and I thought about what I should do tomorrow. I turned of the lights in my room and closed my eyes, and went into sleep.

The next morning I woke up early and bright, or, that was supposed to happen. I scratched the back of my head and got up. I didn't bother with putting on my fight equipment yet, first it was time for some breakfast. I walked downstairs after closing my door, as expected, not many people were here. I actually liked that about this inn, it was quiet and had a comfortable air around. I took a seat at the table with the view outside on the town center. It was then I noticed a large amount of players gathering at the old ruins what should have been a colosseum. When I looked back inside the nice inn keeper was standing at my table, ready to take my order. ''What would you like for breakfast?''. I thought about it for a moment, but since it was still morning, I couldn't really care less. ''I'll take what you recommend.''. The inn keeper nodded and walked back behind the bar and got inside the kitchen. When I took another look around, I noticed it was really quiet, I was the only one in here. I stood up to stretch my legs, and putting my equipment on at the same time. I sat down again and stared out the window, and I noticed the group of players hadn't decreased, instead even more joined the now awfully large group. I turned my head back at the table again when I heard the sound of plates being sat down on the table. The inn keeper made me something that was similar to scrambled eggs with bacon, ofcourse, it didn't look like the real thing, but it smelled and even tasted the same. I took my time to enjoy this meal made for me, even though it sucked that I and all the others were trapped in this world, it didn't mean I couldn't make my time here a little bit more enjoyable. After I was done eating, I stood up and decided to check out what the commotion was all about. I waved the inn keeper goodbye and walked slowly closer to the large amount of people. When I saw everyone sit down, one person still stood in front of the others. I sat down the farthest away, but close enough that I could hear everything still just fine. The other player clapped his hands twice and started speaking. ''Now that I have everyone's attention, we can start this boss meeting. My name is [Diabel] and my profession is a knight''. Ofcourse that couldn't be possible, SAO had no class system, but I could see why he would say that, it's iron armour and shield did make him look close enough to a knight. He then got serious, specially with what he was about to tell. ''My party found the boss room last night.''. Everyone was shocked, the boss room, finally some actual progress to get out of here! It was when another person the mood starting turning into a more hostile one. He called himself [Kibou]. ''There are some people to owe us an apology!'' Apology? What was he talking about? ''I know some of you players here are [Beta-testers]!''. Why would he want an apology from them? I sort of understand, ofcourse they played the game before all the others and took all the good quests first, but isn't that obvious? Besides wasn't the player handbook created by their info? He even went as far to say they should also give up their equipment. Everyone stayed seated to the empty threats this Kibou was making. It was then another person stood up. Whoa! He's almost as tall as me, but much wider. This probably gave him an intimidating look. With an enormous axe strapped on his back he approached Kibou, who flinched when he was this person walking towards him. This person called himself [Agil] and indeed started to point out what I thought. ''You had this manual right?''. Agil shows him the player manual everyone should have, Kibou nodded ''Yeah, what about it?''. Agil continued to explain. ''This manual was made by the beta-players, all this info was from them.'' Kibou hadn't count on that surprise, and flinched when he heard this information. He eventually sat down as did Agil. Diabel continued to explain who the boss was and what weapons he had. Diabel seemed to know a lot about this floor boss, even as much as it's fighting pattern. When his explanation was over, everyone started making parties together. I got into party D, my task together with the others in my party and party C, was to deal damage to the floor boss. I suddenly got nervous, this wasn't your regular hunting day out, we were about to do something some would even call suicidal. No, we had to do this, we have sat down long enough.

It was time to proceed to the next floor and help the other people getting out of this sickening death game. Everyone stood ready in front of the dungeon door, mentally preparing themselves for what was about to come. I had faith in Diabel's tactic, that was for sure, but you could never know when death might strike upon his next victim. We proceeded into the dungeon, several mobs spawned and ran towards us. As expected nobody panicked, we all played long enough and were confident enough to take on some mobs. We kept proceeding forward, until we had hit floor 20 inside the dungeon. We arrived at the floor boss, this was the moment of truth. Diabel spoke a few words to fuel our courage. '' We will defeat this floor boss and go to the next floor, with everyone!''. These words seemed to work everyone seemed recharged for a bit and they all cheered on Diabel's words and everyone stormed into the boss room. There was no turning back now, we were into this together, and we will get out, together! The room was dark for a few seconds, after those seconds, the room lit up and showed an impressive figure. It was easily over 2 meters tall, and 1,5 meter wide, it carried an impressive axe with an shield. Some people were frozen with fear, but Diabel got his weapon out and pointed towards [Illfang the Kobold Lord ].

It showed it had 4 health bars, just as Diabel said. All the info Diabel told us was correct, and it seemed the fight wasn't going to be as hard as we first thought. We trusted Diabel's tactic that much since he didn't just come up with this, he really planned this out far ahead.

Parties A and B were the tank, they are keeping pressure on the boss and keeping him busy. Parties C and D are the attack parties, they deal as much damage to the boss as they can. Then there is the support party E together with 2 other persons, they keep the [Kobold Sentries] the boss spawn of our backs, it may only be a support party, but sure as hell need them as much as the others. At last there were long weapons support parties F and G. I was snapped out of my thoughts when Diabel yelled out to our party. ''Party A and B switch now! Parties C and D attack now while you have a chance!''. ''''Roger!'''' everyone yelled together as we switched places. The floor boss looked even more intimidating from close up, one cut from his axe and your surely doomed, either really low on health or a 1-hit kill. But now was not the time to think about that. Me and 2 other comrades went ahead to run to the left side of our target and get an early attack on him. This seemed to work his attention focused on us, the others in our party and the other entire party attack him from different directions. This seemed effective since he was staggering and confused, not sure where and who to attack anymore. After 10 minutes of fighting we managed to almost deplete 3 of his health bars, he should switch weapons soon now. ''Everyone be ready, he's going to switch weapons now!'' Diabel shouted out. Everyone got ready when Illfang finally threw his other weapons away, when Diabel ran past us to attack him. ''Wait where are you going!?'' I tried to yell out to him and I was only more surprised when Illfang didn't take out his [Talwar] but he took out a [Nodachi]. One person in the back with black hair yelled at Diabel. ''Stop! Jump back as fast as you can!'' But it was to late, Diabel got trough the middle with this new weapons, a devastating upwards slash was unleashed. It didn't stop there as Illfang rushed towards Diabel once more to finish the job with a downwards slash. That was a sword skill no less! Diabel let out a loud scream of pain. Illfang jumped right into a group of other player who all scattered, trying to evade his next attack. The person who tried yelling out to Diabel ran towards him. I couldn't hear what they were talking about, but after a few second Diabel exploded into blue bits, and the sound of glass breaking was heard. Diabel was dead, and so was his body in the real world. Then I looked at Illfang, and he was about to get ready for another attack. The 2 players who couldn't get into a party rushed forward. The black haired player activated a sword skill and deflected the boss his sword skill while the other player got it's sword skill ready. While the boss looked staggered, his quickly recovered and lashed out with his Nodachi. The player quickly evaded by ducking down, while the attack missed the player, it's robes was slashed apart. Reveling a pretty girl underneath the cape, she managed to hit the boss with her sword skill. This pair of players continued their switching tactic and it seemed to work. It was until the black haired player was about to attack head on, the boss pulled a feint surprising everyone, and he made a cut right onto the players chest. They were about to get attacked again when Agil stepped in and swung his axe hard against Illfang's Nodachi. Everyone else including me ran towards Illfang to keep him under pressure. ''We will hold him off until you recover!'' Agil said to the black haired player. Everyone attack with all their might, but Illfang wasn't going down easy. Even I joined the main attackers, but we we're blown by the sheer force when Illfang swung his Nodachi again. Illfang was about to attack Agil with a sword skill when the black haired player stepped in again. ''I'll reach you first!'' he screamed and used a sword skill to attack him with a clean hit. ''[Asuna], one last hit, we'll do it together!'' ''Roger!''. They both ran towards Illfang, firstly the black haired player clashed with Illfang to stagger him. Asuna followed up with a clean hit right in the chest. Then the other player cut him clean diagonally from right to left, but he didn't stop there. He used new sword skill I haven't seen before and cut him clean again diagonally from the bottom left to the upper right corner. This was followed by a scream Illfang let out, he lit up and exploded into bits.

It was quiet the first few seconds but other player started jumping up with joy. ''We did it! I can't believe we did it!'' ''We defeated the first floor boss! Yes!''. The players around started celebrating, most of them leveled up including me going from level 4 to level 5. I couldn't help but to grin stupidly, we finally got further into the game. This was a step into the right direction. But the partying didn't last long, when someone yelled out to the black haired player. ''Why?!'' Silence took over everyone when Kibou wasn't happy, not one bit. '' Why did you let Diabel die?'' ''Let him die?'' the black haired player asked unsure. ''Ofcourse! You knew that technique the boss used! If you told us about that right away, he wouldn't have died!'' The sound of players whispering to each other was heard. The way this situation unfolds won't be good, I must do something..something! The situation got worse. ''He must be a beta-tester! That why he knew the boss's attack pattern! He knew and didn't tell us!'' yelled one player out on Kibou's side. It was then this player even started accusing other player.'' There are other beta-testers here too, right?! Come out!'' Everyone started to look around, suspecting other players. This wasn't good, the teamwork Diabel had created was slowly falling apart. I decided I should do something to keep the teamwork going. ''Everyone, don't suspect the other players. So what if they are beta-testers, we wouldn't have been able to this floor boss without them!'' I yelled out. Some nodded their head in agreement, but many gave me angry looks. At least some people have the same thought as I do. One player wasn't satisfied with my opinion. ''You are probably another beta-tester aren't you!?''. Great now he even accused me of being one, I should have just kept quiet after all, this might get ugly. Agil decided to try and calm down Kibou. ''Hey come on..'' When he wanted to say some more, the black haired player let out a very disturbing laugh, he started to talk. ''A beta-tester? I wish you wouldn't compare me to such newbies.'' Kibou was surprised with what he said. ''W-What?!'' the black haired player continued his explanation. ''Most of the thousand beta-testers were complete beginners, who didn't even know how to level up. You guys are way better than they are.'' This surprised me and most of the other players upon hearing this news. ''But I'm not like them. I made it higher then anyone else during the beta-test! The reason I knew the boss's skills, was because I fought monsters with katana skills on floors way above here. I know a lot more, way more then any information broker.'' Everyone couldn't believe their ears and Kibou was left almost speechless. ''W-What, that's..that's way worse than a beta-tester! You're a cheater!''. Most of the other started yelled at this person. '' You're a cheater!'' '' A cheater and beta-tester..A beater!''. The black haired player didn't even flinch and just stood there smiling away. '' A beater..I like it.'' everyone was again surprised when he said that. '' That's right, I'm a beater, from now on don't confuse me with the other testers.''. While he was saying this he pulled his menu down and equipped the [Coat of Midnight] and it gave him a more darker look, he smiled for the las time and he walked towards the portal for the new floor. He was followed by this Asuna person. I took this moment to rest, and I sat down on the ground. I looked up when I saw a shadow covering my body. It was Agil with his right hand towards me. ''You fought good, do you have an experience in this?'' I took his hand and stood up. '' Not anymore then the rest of the players here, Diabel just had a great tactic. It's a shame he didn't survive...'' Agil had put his hand on my shoulder. ''You are very modest, not many players are that. My name is Agil, and yours?'' I hesitated but he told his name, only fair if I told mine also. ''My name is Mitchelo, nice to meet you.'' We shook hands before he asked a question I didn't expect.'' Do you have any friends in-game?'' I shook my head. ''No, I played solo since I started this game, none of my real life friends bought the game. Now that I think about it, they made the right choice.'' I sadly smiled while Agil put up a more confident smile. ''Then be friends with me, I can see you are going to become very strong, someone who will fight regularly on the [Front-lines].'' While he said that he send me a friend-request. I looked at it like I had seen a ghost, nobody wanted to be my friend. But maybe I need some friends to survive in this game, there is only so much I can do while playing solo. ''Okay, I would like that'' I pressed the OK button on the friend-request screen. Agil smiled and walked to the other players and helping them in anyway. I waited for Agil to go together trough the portal to the 2nd floor.

The 2nd floor wasn't very different from the 1st one, but it felt great to make progress. Soon the other players who stayed behind would hear this and I hoped they soon followed us, and hoping they would fight along side us in the upcoming boss battles. Agil tried to make some small talk until we reached the next town. ''So what do you do when your not gaining exp?'' I was a little startled when he suddenly talked but I regained composure and replied. ''I use my free time to get better at my forging skills, I can make decent Iron swords now.'' Agil looked bit surprised but was followed by his trademark smile.''I see, so why did you choose the blacksmith road?'' I frowned while thinking hard, I actually didn't know myself, sure it was handy to create your own swords. But maybe once my skills are high enough, I could start making swords, axes, armour etc. for other players. Unsure with my answer I replied. ''I honestly don't know, maybe once I'm a high enough level I could start making equipment for others, and make some money out of it.'' Agil grinned at my idea. '' I was planning on starting a shop somewhere later on in the game, I could use someone to keep my shop inventory full with weapons and armour.'' I grinned back at him, liking this idea. We both walked into the next town, and we would split up. Agil said that I could text him anytime I needed help. And with that, I was preparing myself for the next floor boss, which was bound to be found soon.


	3. Chapter 2

Once again, I do not own Sword Art Online.

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It been a few days now since we cleared the 1st floor boss, and a lot of progress was made. Within days floors 2, 3 and 4 have been cleared already. I wasn't slacking off either, since I was making a lot of progress with making my iron swords perfect. The iron sword I started making recently have a lot better stats then they used to, making it perfect to replace my old iron sword with a new self made iron sword. On floor 2 there were also new materials to work with. This was great news for me and I started to look around for new materials. Mostly it was higher level materials, so I couldn't do anything with it yet. With the experience I have now when I made all those iron swords, I started making other slash weapons. [Two-handed Iron sword], [Iron dagger], those were few of the weapons I was making now. And all the time I had spend on making iron swords paid off, these new weapons were easier to make now. I was walking around in the woods on floor 3, searching for stuff that could aid me in leveling in the blacksmith department. When I heard a low growling sound, I was getting ready for an battle.

Sure enough 2 wolves jumped out of the bushes. Nothing they had could help me with making weapons. I decided to kill them and just sell they things they had on them. One wolf dashed at me, wanting to bite me. I rolled out of the way and blocked the other's wolf's claw with my sword. I pulled my sword back and stabbed it right trough it's head, killing it in the process. But my battle wasn't over yet, when the other wolf became enraged by it's fallen partner. It's fur turned red and became faster and probably stronger too. It looked intimidating but it wasn't something I couldn't handle. Again I parried it's attack with my sword, leaving it's side open for an attack. I took this chance and I made an upward slash right trough the wolf. The now familiar sound of glass breaking and the sight of the wolf exploding into blue bits, was when I won my encounter. When I looked up into the sky, I noticed it becoming slightly red and darker. It was time to head back into town after a day of hunting.

Once in town I grabbed the latest newspaper. Nothing new had happened, well floor 4 was cleared yesterday, expecting floor 5 to be cleared today was a bit too much. I walked over to the inn where I was staying. It was a nice inn, but I prefer the inn on floor 1, which was run by a female player. I sat down waiting for my dinner, when I noticed a group looking around suspiciously. They were probably all in the same guild together, and by the looks of it they were up to no good. Some other players were intimidated by their looks. They were all dressed in black clothing, with iron armour underneath it. Their cloaks had seen better days, with holes in it and sometimes ripped, they obviously had seen a lot of battles. When my dinner arrived I paid no longer attention to them. As long as they don't bother me, I couldn't care less. When eating my dinner I started thinking, what way would I go with my combat skills. I mean the swords are pretty awesome, but maybe something with more power behind it and longer range would fit me better. I didn't like war hammers, they felt too slow for me and blunt weapons aren't exactly my choice of weapons. When I continued thinking, the suspicious players made their move and started to bother other customers. I couldn't get involved in this, I know when inside a town it's a safe zone, but this could come back and bite me in the ass. They had their sights set on a male and female player. The male player tried to make them go away, but they continued to push him around. It was started with just plain bullying, but the male player was quickly being used as practice dummy for their punches. When they started bothering the female player too, I couldn't stand seeing it anymore. Something inside me snapped, I guess they haven't learned proper manners, or they turned into assholes when thrown into the game. I stood up calmly, and walked over to they 'thugs'. I grabbed one of the player by the shoulder with some force, making him go down on his knees. The other quickly noticed my presence. ''What do you think your doing, you bastard?''. I wasn't in the mood for this, and made sure to end this quickly. ''I suggest you stop bothering the other players, or else...''. I left the threat open for them to fill in, but they weren't backing away, instead they now focused on me, and circled around me. ''Would you look at that, we have a tough guy here. You know what we do with tough guys?''. He pulled his fist back, getting ready to punch me, while his friends also got ready to beat me to the other side of town. I however wasn't planning on letting them do that, and I kicked the leader full force on the knee, making him go down. While his head was around knee height, I kneed him right on his right cheek. The leader went down and didn't get up again. The other now knew they weren't going to fight just someone. I decided to give them another chance. '' I will ask the rest of you once more, you can take your leader to another inn right now, or I can repeat what happened to him to the rest of you.''. There was some hesitation, but they finally gave in and picked up their leader and went outside. ''Don't think you are rid of us yet!'' one of them yelled towards me. ''I didn't count on that..'' I said to myself in a low tone. One of the other players stood up and clapped softly, followed by some others who did the same. One player walked over to me and wanted to shake hands. ''That was very brave what you did, my name is [Xroly]. This player was covered in bronze armour, it seemed to have also been in some battles as well, scratch marks were present, and some corners were chipped off as well. I took his hand with mine and shook his hand. ''My name is [Mitchelo], you don't need to compliment me, besides, I have a feeling this won't be the last of them.'' I shook my head when I said that. '' Well you could use some help then, and it so happens that I want to help you with that.''. He didn't show anything that would appear that he would trick me into going somewhere on the map only to find those guys again, then again I'd rather fight solo. '' Well thanks for the offer, but I fight rather on my own.'' I started to walk away but he grabbed me by the shoulder and turned me around, honestly this was getting annoying. ''Don't go away just yet! I want to know how you defeated their boss so easily.''. Great, now it's getting even more annoying. ''Can't you just ask someone else, just leave me alone.'' I pushed his hand away from my shoulder and I got to my inn room. But I had a feeling I don't get rid of him easily...

Next morning I was walking around in town, and ofcourse being followed by this Xroly guy. I tried to pay him no mind, but he couldn't hide very well, which sometimes ensured hilarious accidents with the NPC's of town. But he wouldn't give up on following me, and I knew I had to deal with him sooner or later. I stopped walking and turned around only seeing pieces of bronze armour trying to hide behind a pillar. I walked over to him. ''Fine, follow me, I'll learn you how to do that move.'' He visibly brightened up and he started following me outside of town. _'' Are you serious? He follows me without question, this can easily be a trap by [Player killers].'' _I continued to walk into a open spot and stopped a few meters ahead of him. I pulled my sword out and pointed it at Xroly. He had a confused look on his face. ''You know, if I was a PK'er you would be dead now right?'' He gave me a surprised look. ''Eh!? Wait that's true!''. Honestly...this guy surprises me just as much as I surprise him. ''Is this like your first MMORPG in general?'' He nodded his head. ''Yes it is, so I should watch out for these kinda traps now, right?'' I decided this has been going on for long enough, how could a guy like him still be alive in this game... ''Is this your first MMO in general?'' I asked. ''As a matter of fact, yes it is.'' '' Then you have many things to learn indeed, let's get started then'' If I could save his life by teaching him some things he should know, I could save a life in this game. ''First of, don't following other players randomly like you did with me. This could get you killed with ease if your off-guard or even out-numbered.'' He nodded with a emotionless face, good at least he knows I'm serious now. ''Now I will teach you some basic hand-to-hand combat I used, just in case you lose you're weapon or caught off-guard. Stand in front of me.'' Xroly stood in front of me like I ordered and slowly I began to teach him some self defense. After 30 minutes he could perform the moves I learned him with quite some ease, but there was room for improvement. ''Now I have taught you that move, you will stop following me right?'' But my guts told me it wasn't going to be that easy. ''I know, but I really want to travel with you trough this game.'' I knew it wouldn't be easy, but seeing there was no other way to escape from this... ''Fine, you can party up with me for some days, but if I still think you aren't worth my time after those days, we will part ways.'' He nodded with excitement as I send him an party invite. He pressed okay and had a huge grin on his face. I just kind of half-hearted smiled along with him, until I heard a sound in the bushes. Getting my sword ready, Xroly did the same when he saw the serious look on my face. ''I know you are there somewhere! You can come out now!'' I yelled. Sure enough the annoying players I met yesterday came out of the bushes and started to form a circle around me and Xroly. The thugs pulled out their swords as well while the leader stepped up to us. ''Well, what do we have here. I thought one of my comrades gave you a warning you wouldn't get rid of us.'' ''He did, but I couldn't care less, since I'm not alone now.'' That's right, with Xroly with me, he has my back covered. This way I can easily focus on what is happening in front of me. I took my combat stance, while Xroly also pulled his shield from his back. That is how he keeps surviving, he's obviously a tank. This means he has a lot of health and high defense, and can distract enemies around me. Feeling my confidence rising I took a more aggressive combat stance, and got ready to attack. I won't kill them, that is out of the question. I refuse becoming a PK'er as well, and living with the feeling you killed someone not only in-game, but also in real life. I rushed forward to the three players in front of me, taking them by surprise by my sudden movement. They pulled their swords up for a weak defense, which was exactly what I wanted. Hitting one player's sword close to his hand, he let his sword go on instinct. I followed with a round-house kick in the stomach and kicked him against a tree hard. The other two players attack me right away. One was making a vertical slash, while the other was going for a horizontal slash. Clever, but not good enough. I dodged the vertical slash and blocked the horizontal slash with my sword. ''Hey are you serious!? How tough can this defense be!?'' One of the thug players yelled. Turns out this Xroly person was giving them a hard time. Shield pointed forward with his sword ready to stab the enemy, I could only describe his stance has almost textbook perfect. Quickly getting my head back into my own fight, I stood ready once again to rush the other two remaining players. This time they were expecting it and raised their swords for a more solid defense. I activated a sword skill, my sword glowing a faint green color. I felt the skill assist kick in a little bit, and I preformed an uppercut skill, knocked one of them on the ground. My sword was now faintly glowing with a blue color right after that, this time I felt no skill assist kick in and made a horizontal skill attack at the last remaining guy. When my sword made contact with his sword, the other players sword broke neatly in half. He let go of the sword hilt and stepped back. The one I knocked on the ground, decided it was safer to stay there, knowing this could end very badly for him. When I looked back at Xroly, I was surprised to see he was also busy taking out his last guy. Blocking with his shield and stabbing the last remaining player right after that proved to be an effective tactic, as the last player also let his sword drop. The leader had a look of panic on his face now, with all his comrades defeated he was the only one left standing. When Xroly and I turned towards him, he quickly stepped back. ''Everyone pull back!'' He yelled in a afraid tone. Everyone did as he ordered and quickly ran past the leader while the leader made sure we wouldn't follow. Once he started running away too, I dropped my combat stance and breathed out calmly. Putting my sword back in it's holster, Xroly followed by putting away his shield and sword as well. It was quiet for a few moments before I decided the silence was getting annoying. ''You can hold yourself in a fight, I'm impressed by your defensive skills.'' ''Really, you mean that?'' ''Yea, I really mean that. I haven't seen a defense like that in this game yet.'' Somehow me complimenting him gave this happy look on his face. ''The way you say it, it's almost like even you can't get past my defensive skills.'' I nodded. ''That is very true, with enough practice I could maybe get past it. But I probably won't get past it if we would fight right here and now.'' He grinned, and I couldn't help to grin as well. Maybe he wasn't as bad as I thought, but I still would rather go solo on hunting trips. Maybe I could make a deal with him. ''I still would rather go solo from here, but I'm ready to make a deal with you. You have very good defensive skills, but your equipment looks in a rough state. It so happens, I have blacksmith skills. If you let me go solo on my huntings, in return I can make your equipment as good as new, and even make you some new equipment as well.'' He frowned and closed his eyes, thinking hard about this deal. After almost a minute he sighed. ''Alright, I will accept that deal, but you better keep it.'' I smiled when I heard those words, still he wasn't a bad guy to hang around with. I took out my menu, and I send him a friend request. Seeing that surprised look on his face was priceless. He didn't need to think this over and accepted. ''I will need to gather the materials needed to make you a new and better iron sword, I can also try and boost it's stats if you want.'' I started making my way out of the woods with Xroly at my side. ''Well if you could do that, it would help a lot.'' ''Oh and don't forget to bring come Col with you, I will make this cheaper for you, but I still need to get paid for this work.'' He nodded, understanding it wasn't for free.

Once out of the woods, I went to the local blacksmith. The blacksmith NPC's in this game allow you to use it's anvil's for smithing equipment. I bought the rest of the materials needed for a new iron sword. After I did that, I took off my combat armour so it was easy to move around in the shop. Xroly looked from the other side of the shop how I got to work on his new sword. Heating up the iron ore in the furnace in the mold, it slowly turned into an iron bar making it ready to be shaped into a regular sized sword. After a few minutes the now iron bar was ready to used. Taking it out the furnace, I placed the iron bar on the anvil. Taking out my now trusty and familiar hammer, I hammered down on the heated iron bar, making it flatter with every hit. After enough hits, it slowly turned into an iron sword. My slash weapon forging skill went up by 1 level, and the sword's stats were exactly the same as mine, making it a bit better then the regular iron sword that you can buy in the weapon shops. After I examined it's stats, I turned around to Xroly presenting him his new sword. He grabbed the hilt and swung it around a few times. Satisfied with its shape and feeling, he grinned. ''This sword feels very strong, much better then my old one.'' ''That's good, if you ever want to upgrade some of it's stats, just come and see me. I will boost it but for a price. Which reminds me, this costs 500 Col.'' I opened the trade window, me giving the newly made iron sword while he gave me 500 Col. I realized I also had my first client in the game now. This has been a good day suprisingly.


	4. Chapter 3

Once again, I do not own Sword art online

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Home. That was something I was currently thinking about. What's happening over there, how are my family, friends? All these questions clouded my mind. I was so occupied with the game that I haven't taken the time to stand still on all these things. It's been so long now and memories I have of the real world were slowly but surely fading away. I just want to get out of here before that happens. I turned around again in the bed I rented from the inn. Tomorrow will probably be the same schedule, go out into the woods, collect materials and Col, go back and start making stuff again. Maybe I should try out another weapons, it looks we are all stuck in here for still quite a while. I wonder what the outside world sees from this. I guess the ones responsible for this are getting arrested, and they are trying to figure out a way to get us out off here, but I doubt they find one. If they try to take of our NerveGear, it will fry our brains. And I guess trying to get us out from inside the game isn't going to work either. I moved myself to lay down on my back and stare at the ceiling until my eyes closed and I fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning was like any other morning, I woke up, put on my armour and went downstairs to have breakfast. It was until I bumped into this female player, my morning had gone a complete other turn. ''Ow! Hey watch where you are going!'' ''Oh...sorry, I wasn't paying attention.'' I just tried to shove it of casually, but fire was burning into this girl's eyes. Well there goes my peaceful morning. ''The way you try to wave it of so casually pisses me off...'' ''Look I just woke up, and I don't want to deal with this right now. So what do you want, lunch or whatever.'' I just wanted this to be over as soon as possible. ''I want a duel with you!'' The cocky tone in her voices pisses me off, but I shouldn't fall for her taunts. ''No can't do, a duel would be useless, besides I only duel if it's important.''. The angry look on her face only got worse when I said that. ''But a duel is what I want, or are you afraid you lose to a girl.'' That stupid grin she's showing...it's like the word 'taunting' is written on her forehead. Looks like I won't get rid of her until I have this stupid duel with her. ''Fine...a duel it is, just let me have breakfast first.'' her anger is now replaced by some sort of..happiness? The grin is no longer as annoying as it was before, and she sat down next to me while I was getting served my breakfast. I try to calm her down a bit more, maybe I can convince her to just drop the duel. ''My offer on breakfast still stands, do you want some?'' I asked. Please let it work please let it work... ''Well since you insist, I will have some then.'' She not longer grinned, but had a calm smile. So far the situation was improving for me. We got served breakfast and ate it quietly, hoping she forgot all about this silly duel all together. When I was halfway done with my breakfast, I wanted something to talk about. ''So, what's your name?'' I started with a simple question. '' My name is [Kotori], what's yours?'' she asked back. ''My name is Mitchelo''. So far Kotori seems cocky, blunt and pretty much a fighter all together, I bet she can scare of lower level players by just looking in their direction. ''So, Kotori, what do you do around here?'' She perked up, almost like I was in for a story she was about to tell. ''I hunt monsters all day, sell the loot, and repeat.'' well that turned out to be a short story... ''And what do you do around here all day?'' she asked with curiosity. ''I also hunt monsters, but I collect their loot and turn it into weapons, I'm a blacksmith, sort of.'' She seemed interested in me now, blacksmiths weren't something you encounter every day. When we both finished breakfast I took another good look at her. Despite her personality, she seemed very nice. Standing at I guess somewhere around 175cm tall, she had a slender figure. Wearing very light armour in the colors red and black, she had a curved one-handed sword, she relied on speed as her defense. Having long silky black hair that reached her hips, her dark red eyes is what interested me the most. I wonder if that's a bug in the game or really her eye color. She started walking away while I waved at her. That's right, just keep on walking so I don't have to fight you in a stupid duel. She stopped mid-step as she seemed to realize something, please tell me this isn't happening right now... ''I almost forgot! We were supposed to have a duel!'' She started pointing at me. At this point I just gave up, let's get this over with then. ''Fine, let's have your stupid duel. Just make it fast.'' We both stepped outside the inn and walked over to the town center.

Currently a lot of players were hunting outside in the woods right now, so the town was quiet. At least there won't be a crowd when I'm having this duel with Kotori. Speaking of her, she was standing in front of me, having her hand already on the handle of her weapon, she seemed eager to start this duel. ''So what rules are we going to use for this duel, first to yellow health, first to land a hit?'' I asked. She seemed to think about it for a few seconds. ''Let's do first to land a hit.'' This doesn't surprise me, someone who uses speed as their defense tends to always land the first hit as well. The start timer started running to 0 as I pulled my sword out of it's sheath and took my combat stance, while she does the same. Standing on her toes she seems to go for a rush style attack pattern, keeping pressure on the opponent by fast attacks. The timer has continued to count down...5...4...3...2...1...0. The sound of an buzzer is heard and as expected she takes off right away. Running to me at a fast speed, I raised my sword in defense. The sound of metal clashing is heard as I blocked her attack with success. She then right away goes for another swing, this time aiming for my stomach. I rolled out of the way and I feel the wind that her attack created going past me. I stood up just in time to see Kotori going for a vertical slash. I side stepped out of the way, surprising her as she swung with all her strength, leaving her left side wide open. Taking this chance, I swung my blade at her. She then pulls off a weird move I had never seen. Swinging her sword upwards, she makes a weird flip with her body, her sword clashing with mine. Surprising me with this new weird move, she took this chance to stand firmly on both legs again. I couldn't help but to smile. ''That was a very interesting move you pulled there, very nice block.'' I told her. Then she did something I wouldn't expect from her, she blushed. And it looks adorable. Trying to regain composure, she shook her head and smiled. ''You aren't to shabby either, nobody lasted this long against me.'' I only responded by smiling even more as I saw her coming at me with her sword again. The sound of metal clashing was heard yet again and we were stuck into a mini-duel of who would give up first. Both of us smiling like idiots, and neither letting the other gain the upper hand. With our faces close to each other, I can feel her breathing. Taking another look at her, she seems actually pretty cute, especially if she blushes. Shaking my head to get rid of those thoughts, I fought the blush that was making it's way up to my face. I noticed Kotori having a red tint on her cheeks, but it was no where close to blushing. I decided it was taking long enough now and let Kotori over power me. Surprised by the sudden forward motion, Kotori was having trouble with her footing. I took this as my chance and side stepped, letting her move past me. I swung with a horizontal slash, and I was surprised she had done the same. But I could feel I was winning this clash, since she was having trouble putting power into her weapon with the awkward position she had taken. Pushing her back with sheer power it was my turn to lay down some pressure on her. I swung my sword vertically with a lot of power behind it, and Kotori was having trouble blocking all of it. She parried some of my attacks, but she hadn't been on the receiving end a lot I could guess from the trouble she was having. I wasn't exactly the strongest player, and certainly not one of the best one around. I could hold myself with a fight, but I was gaining more confidence as the fight went on. She suddenly rolled out of the way, pulling of the same move I did with her. My slash attack went completely off target, leaving my right side open. She tried a stab attack, but I could barely parry it. Spinning around while I parried her attack I brought up my sword once more to decide the duel, and finally landing a hit on her arm. Another buzzer went off as it sounded the end of the duel.

''Aaaah! I can't believe I lost!'' Kotori yelled out loud. Apparently she had never lost before and seemed pretty frustrated about it. I had put away my weapon back into it's sheath and calmed down. This was an pretty intense duel if I say so myself. ''Don't be so frustrated you lost, you fought very well, I almost lost.'' I tried to calm her down, but in vain. ''It just pisses me off that I lost to someone being casual about all this.'' ''Well sorry for not having the same interests as you do. You're a pretty sore loser, you cannot win everything, even I know that.'' She clearly wasn't pleased with my explanation, as her face turned red from angry. She walked past me, but not before stomping on my foot. ''Ow! You stupid woman, you really are a sore loser!'' her only response was turning around and sticking out her tongue. Not only is she a sore loser, she childish also, and why do I still think she's cute when blushing, stupid mind of mine.''So what are you planning to do from here on, now that you lost to me.'' I couldn't help but to bug her with that fact over and over again. She stomps her foot down and faces me. ''You are going to make me a new weapon.'' ''And why exactly should I do that for you?''. She actually stops and thinks about for a second. ''Because this weapon is old, weak. You are a blacksmith right, and don't worry about the payment, I can afford it as long as your not super expansive.''. I rubbed my chin for a few seconds. ''Alright, since I did enjoy the duel, how about 500 Col ?''. She seemed pleased with my price, nodding and smiling gentle along the way as we headed out back to the town.

A few hours later and a very happy Kotori, the sun had almost set and it was starting to get dark. The street lights went on and players went out for dinner and something to drink. Kotori could now finally replace her old one-handed curved sword with her new one. She swung it around a few times, checking if it was to her liking. She could only grin, and she was satisfied with what she got. I made some money in the process so not a bad day for me. Kotori kept checking out her new weapon, admiring it with a pleased smile on her face.

She then sheaths her sword back and walks in front of me to face me. ''Hey, you are kinda nice to hang out with, want to be friends?''. I responded a bit harsh back. ''Is it because I made you that sword?'' She shakes her head no. ''No, you seem to accept who I am, I know I can be a bit straight forward sometimes and not easy to have around.''. This seems a touchy subject for her, she even talks quieter than she usually does. ''Don't worry about that, I was only joking Kotori.''. I smiled, showing her I was just joking around. She seemed to understand my intentions and smiles back, sending me a friend request. I pressed on the OK button, and she was added on my friend-list. We hung out some more in the inn we we're going to sleep in, having a nice dinner with it. After 30 minutes we both decided we had enough fun for today, and went to our respective rooms. I took off my armor and laid it down on the chair, together with my weapon. I laid down on my bed, and stared at the ceiling for a while and started to think. I thought about a lot of stuff, what happened today, about Kotori, what will happen tomorrow. I felt my eye lids close, and everything went to black when sleep took over.


End file.
